EMS Education Tips

Drowning Prevention

As a parent and former lifeguard, I find drowning incidents such as the death of a toddler at a Cleveland water park this week to be particularly heartbreaking. In almost all cases, drowning is preventable and most times occurs in pools or swimming areas where adults and/or lifeguards are present.

In the waning days of summer, remember these important Everyday EMS Tips to prevent a drowning while you are at the pool or beach:

1. Only swim in designated swimming areas.

2. Children and adults should never swim alone or without a lifeguard/observer, regardless of their swimming ability.

5. Restrict children's access to swimming pools with fences, gates, and doors. It is especially important to lock sliding glass doors from the house that lead to the swimming pool.

6. Never swim under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Intoxication is often a contributing cause to drowning.1

7. Do not play breath-holding games for fun or to build lung capacity. They are dangerous and ineffective.

Parents, don’t abdicate your child's safety to a lifeguard. If you are not in the water swimming with your child, continuously visually monitor your child. Even experienced child swimmers drown. Eliminate or minimize distractions while you watch your child.

Finally, recognize a swimmer in trouble. A swimmer with his head above the water, calling for help, and vigorously moving his arms and legs has enough oxygen to participate in his own rescue. Use coaching, ring buoy, pole, or a rescue tube to assist the swimmer to safety. A swimmer who is barely able to keep his head out of the water is lethargic; if he is not calling out for help, he is in immediate danger. He likely doesn’t have the awareness or strength to reach out to a rescue tube or assist in his own rescue. A properly trained lifeguard or rescue swimmer needs to go to that swimmer in danger to make the rescue.

Greg Friese is Editor-in-Chief of EMS1.com. He is an educator, author, paramedic, and marathon runner. Ask questions or submit tip ideas to Greg by e-mailing him at greg.friese@ems1.com.

Comments

The comments below are member-generated and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EMS1.com or its staff. If you cannot see comments, try disabling privacy and ad blocking plugins in your browser. All comments must comply with our Member Commenting Policy.

EMS1 is revolutionizing the way in which the EMS community finds relevant news, identifies important training information, interacts with each other and researches product purchases and suppliers. It has become the most comprehensive and trusted online destination for prehospital and emergency medical services.